Age Reversal
by Nenerak
Summary: In this story Kotetsu is 24 and Barnaby is 35 and various stuff happens and yes it's shippy.
1. Chapter 1

Today, Barnaby Brooks Jr. veteran hero, aged more or less of 35 years, was not happy. Not happy at all.  
Today, his company decided to pair him up with the most irritating and talentless hero he had ever seen. A young brat of 24 years with old fashioned ideals who would do nothing but to hinder his performances. Why the hell was he the one paired with him?  
Ah right, "You're his senior and you both have the same power, so you could help him a little, right Barnaby-kun?" That's what Lloyds said.  
Of course Barnaby couldn't refuse, there was no way he was in any position to refuse orders, he could already see the threat of retirement over his head, no way he was going to refuse any order from the company in these conditions, even if it's obvious the company just wants to push its problem on him, a problem named Wild Tiger. Doesn't mean he has to like his young partner. And in fact he doesn't.  
Worse of it all? During their first mission together he had to rescue the brat, and miss the arrest. His precious points were stolen because a brat who was supposed to be a hero couldn't pay attention to his surroundings and tripped on ice. Granted, he got the rescue points but that wasn't enough. He had to stay the very best and that's not with rescue points that he will.

He sighed as they walked together to Appollon's truck (together because they had to act as a team for the media not because he actually might a little bit care about the reckless brat) and Wild Tiger, that was the name the brat had chosen, spoke "Thanks Bunny"  
Bunny? Who was he talking to, they were alone, so he asked "Bunny?"  
"Yeah Bunny, you're Bunny with how you hop around and kick people plus these things on your helmet look like rabbit ears, thus Bunny"  
"My name is not Bunny it's Barnaby"  
"Makes you seem old, you don't want me to call you an old man do you?"  
"Well, no .."  
"Than it's decided, you're Bunny!"  
And the brat had the nerves to smile at him, genuinely happy, as if the idea of this stupid nickname was genius. Barnaby scowled and walked straight to the truck, not paying attention to any of the brat's attempt at talking to him.

However, once sitting together in the truck, now rid of their armors courtesy of Saitou ("Wait old man speak louder I don't hear you" "He just said you should be more careful with your armor" "YOU HAVE DAMAGED YOUR ARMOR, PAY MORE ATTENTION TO MY WORK IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO MAKE ADJUSTMENTS" Barnaby sighed, Tiger answered, not even daring to ask about the adjustments "OK, OK, I'm sorry, right") he could study the brat closer and had to admit there was something endearing about him.  
He didn't know exactly what that was, maybe the fact that despite his efforts to look older (what with this beard, seriously?) there still was something childlike about how he acted.  
Barnaby didn't have any child, hell he didn't have any relationship that lasted more than 2 months despite the sponsors obvious efforts to hook him up with daughters of various CEOs and god knows who else, he didn't really care, he didn't know children, he had no relatives of any sort, so taking care of someone younger like this was new, maybe that was why he wasn't so mad as he should. He was curious, just curious.  
He sighed again.

"You sigh a lot"  
"I'm tired a lot. You're tiring."  
"Am not."  
"You most definitely are. How can you even be a hero if you don't know how to stand on your feet"  
"I was taken by surprise that's why!"  
"How can you even be taken by surprise by ice when one of your colleague controls ice?"  
"I didn't think she'd throw it at me!"  
"Heroes want points, of course she couldn't care where you are"  
"Heroes are there to save people!"  
"That's the kind of thinking that makes you pay incredibly high damage fines and put yourself in danger. Damn, pay attention to your surroundings, I'm your partner, I don't want to get hurt by your reckless actions"  
"You're my partner. I wouldn't hut you. Never."  
He sounded so sure of himself, so confident in his abilities that Barnaby, taken by surprise, kept silent.

He only spoke again to explain to his new partner, yeah partner he should get used to it, where the showers were. In the end, they finished their shower at the same time and exited the building together.  
An awkward silence hung between them, not knowing how to part, Barnaby sighed and was the first to speak "Don't be late tomorrow brat"  
"Don't damage your curls overnight old man", the words were mean but his tone lacked bite and he was smiling as he waved him goodbye.  
Barnaby couldn't really believe it, was the brat happy about having him as a partner?


	2. Chapter 2

That night Barnaby definitely wasn't in his normal state. He couldn't stop smiling for one, Barnaby didn't smile unless it was for a photoshoot or for being agreeable to sponsors or to the media. He didn't even know why, nor did he care, he just didn't smile, that wasn't him. Yet, tonight he did.  
Today hadn't been a good day either, so there was no reason.  
On the other hand if there was something he actually appreciated in his state of not normalcy it was the fact that for once he could sleep, usually he only collapsed when his body couldn't take it anymore and it wasn't a good sleep, it was almost as if he came out of it even more tired than before. Then again, you can't really rest when your sleep is continuously disturbed by nightmares made of fire and murders.  
When his alarm rang (because no matter what he always put an alarm, just in case), he actually felt like he had slept well and he coudn't remember a single nightmare of that night.  
Unlike last evening, this was definitely a reason to smile.

Before leaving for another day of hero work (most likely paperwork after yesterday's event, only thinking about it was irritating) he took extra care of his hair, making sure even more than usual that they were at the right place. The brat had no idea about the work it took to maintain curls.  
Sure enough, he was the first to arrive at work, exactly like he predicted, his new partner (definitely he had a problem with the word) didn't seem the type to be on time. At exactly 8:15 am a loud shout made itself heard in the office "Hello everyone! Hello Bunny!"  
"My name's not Bunny, it's Barnaby"  
"Right, right" he still wore that damned smile on his face, he should have known, the day started well, it couldn't go on like that.

"You're late brat"  
"Not my fault. There was that cat stuck in a tree"  
"I thought a hero's job was to save people not animals"  
"Animals are important too. Ask Sky High." Sky High? Why was he supposed to ask Sky High, well, nevermind.  
"Just say you spent the time grooming your idiotic beard and I won't say anything"  
"I didn't! And I'm sure you spent even more time taking care of your curls."  
"At least I do care for my hair and don't leave the house with a mess on my head"  
"This is not a mess it's artfully mused"  
"Artfully? You call that a work of art?", he scowled, he couldn't help scowling, why was he so disagreable to the brat  
"Yes I definitely call that a work of art" he crossed his arms on his chest as if to make his point stronger, Barnaby was about to answer when their secretary spoke angrily "Enough you two, I can't work"  
"Sorry"  
"Sorry Ma'm"

Scolded, he just has been scolded, it never happened in his whole life, he was supposed to care for the brat, teach him things, not let himself be influenced by him, by no means did he ever want to act like the brat.  
Throughout the morning he had to wake the brat up a few times, "You're not supposed to fall asleep while working"  
"But it's paperwork we're talking about, paperwork's boring and a hero job is to save people not to do paperwork"  
"Paperwork is part of the job too and you wouldn't have that much paperwork to do if you could respect people's property and not destroy everything in sight"  
Every time the brat sighed before going back to his work.  
It was painful and Barnaby had to do quite a fair share of it but when morning came to an end the paperwork was done with and his young partner was beaming at him.  
"Thank you so much Bunny!"  
"I already told you, my name is Barnaby"  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever"  
Barnaby sighed. "Beside, we're a team, if you don't do your paperwork it affects me too"  
"Still, thank you Bunny. Let me buy you lunch since it's way past noon, you don't seem like you eat enough"  
"Please let my eating habits alone"  
"So, you're coming?"  
"Yes, yes I'm coming, just because I don't work for free. Especially for you"  
"Wonderful! Now let's go!" he grabbed his jacket and strode outside  
"Wait, where are we going?"  
"It's a surprise", he said, winking at him.  
"What you just did is old fashioned" he sighed, but followed anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

The walk was fast, barely 5 minutes and they were there.  
"Wait, what's this?"  
"This? It's my favourite burger joint. You don't like hamburgers?"  
"Well, it's not exactly the food I usually favor I have to admit"  
"I thought so, that's why you're so thin"  
"I'm not thin, I just have a naturally high metabolism"  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Shall we eat or do you prefer to keep on talking"  
Barnaby didn't answer, instead he went inside the joint, surprised to see it was clean. The food smelt good too. He let Tiger go ahead of him and choose a table, they sit and he didn't even complain when his partner (damn, that word) ordered the food for him. He was sure that if he chose what he actually wanted to choose (that would be a salad) he'd get teased for eating rabbit food and he honestly didn't want to go into his eating habits. Even he could tell that they weren't healthy, and yes he knew he didn't eat enough, he just didn't have much of an appetite, most food tasted bland to him, he expected the food of this joint to be the same, despite the smell.

And so he was surprised to discover that he actually liked the food.  
He honestly could have been disgusted given the strange habit of squishing hamburgers his companion had but he wasn't. His surprise must have been apparent on his face because Tiger asked "Surprised it's good?"  
"Surprised that the food of a place you chose is actually edible"  
"Pff Bunny's so mean, he doesn't trust my tastes in food"  
"I don't trust your tastes in anything actually"  
"You should! I have the best tastes ever in evreything, especially in food"  
"Don't be so full of yourself brat and don't talk with your mouth full it's disgusting"  
"Yeah, yeah"

Barnaby was almost disappointed he actually stopped talking, maybe what they said was true, that food tastes better when it was shared, even if it was shared with an annoying brat.  
"Ne, Bunny?"  
"What?" Damn, he hadn't even reacted to the nickname, there's no way he'll get stuck with it, no way in hell.  
"Do you smile sometimes?"  
"I do"  
"Yeah for photoshoot or during interviews or at sponsors parties, but these are not real smiles"  
"And you, you smile too much, you're going to get wrinkles soon"  
"Smiling make people happy"  
"You don't need to force yourself to smile just to make me happy you know"

Barnaby himself didn't really know what he meant by that but the smile fell off his partner's face and what replaced him was a sad expression, "Yeah, yeah you're right"  
"If I said something I shouldn't have, I'm sorry" What the hell was he saying, he couldn't possibly be apologizing to him  
"No you said nothing of the sort, and you're right, it's just, if I don't smile at people who don't have anyone else to smile at them what kind of hero would I be? I think a smile can save people too, no matter if I have to fake it or not."  
Barnaby nodded "It's just part of the job"  
"Yeah, right"  
And, as he stood up to take his trash to the contained he whispered "I don't have to force myself around you though"  
Barnaby was stunned and he smiled at him, genuinely smiled at someone, for the first time he could remember "Thanks partner"

And the prettiest smile he had ever seen appeared on his partner's lips.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, that was awkward, really awkward, the silence between them as they went back to the office was awkward, his reaction earlier was awkward and everything started to be really confusing. Why did the company send him a partner to start with, he was just fine by himself.  
They were schedulded to do an interview that afternoon and he could already tell that Tiger hated it by the way he looked and the way he sighed.  
"Interviews are part of the job"  
He stopped dead on his tracks, "Wait. How do you know what I'm thinking? Is this some kind of Bunny magic?"  
That was Barnaby's turn to sigh. "It's not magic and I'm not a Bunny. You look so obviously displeased and told me so many times about how a hero's job was to save lives that it was easy to guess. You're simple you know?"  
"I don't really know how to take that but well, nevermind, you don't agree with me?"  
"A hero's primary job might be to save people but one can't save people if they're fired, thus we have to please the sponsors"  
"We shouldn't have to"  
"But we do, it's how it works"

Another deep sigh as they reached Appolon's building "Bunny, you can't go alone and tell them I had to run to help a child and couldn't make it?"  
"No"  
"Why not?"  
"Because we're supposed to be a team, so we're saving people together and we go through interviews together. I hate them as much as you do, I just have the decency to avoid complaining about it"  
"It's because you never complain that you look so unhappy, you should let it out sometimes"  
"I won't answer to that"  
Really he won't, there is nothing to say after all, no one to say it to. Everyone was dead. The brat didn't know. Couldn't know. He hoped he didn't know.

The interview went fine, they played their part perfectly, a bit distant, their "partnership was recent, it takes some times to adjust when you've been working alone for all your career" "As for me I need to get used to the job of hero as a whole, it's not easy as it looks on TV"  
To his credit, the brat actually managed to seem mature during interviews, much unlike everything he was in his daily life, so he could act too, and not just fake smiles.  
The more their partnership developped the more he realized they were actually more alike than he thought and he couldn't tell if it was a good or a bad thing.

"You seem completely different from usual during interviews" he remarked.  
"Back at you Bunny"  
"I meant, your attitude is completely different. You seem more calm"  
"A hero has to st a good example for children, I can't talk badly about my partner can I"  
"No, you're right. I'm just surprised you're that considerate"  
"You know Bunny you shouldn't judge people so quickly"  
"I can't really help it, sometimes you can only rely on first impressions when on a mission"  
"Does it mean the always overthinking Bunny is relying on instinct?"  
"No. It's rational analysis. And rationnaly speaking you're a reckless irritating brat. That's a fact proven by experience."  
"And you're a stuck up unhappy rabbit with no sense of humor. Don't you ever have sex?"  
"How the hell is this related to the conversation?"  
"You're a Bunny, rabbits have sex a lot, it totally makes sense"  
"I'm not a Bunny don't I tell you that enough?"  
"Actually you forgot to say it since the beginning of this conversation" Damn, that smile again, he was starting to really think of his partner as a cat, a human cat, able to make you melt just by the look on his face, but he will not waver, he doesn't need any more weakness and so he turns back.  
"Good night brat"  
"Wait, Bunny, did I say or do something bad?"  
"No you didn't. I'm tired that's all"  
"Bunny, see you tomorrow!" He waved at him happily again


	5. Chapter 5

Their partnership had been complicated from the start, and it went on that way, none of them really did want to make a conscious effort to adjust to the other and their teamwork was terrible.  
After a few months however things started to get better, they were more or less used to be around each other, Barnaby learnt how to make up for Tiger's weakness, Tiger let Barnaby make a lot of arrests he could have made by himself, damage fines had been reduced, they talked more together, even ate lunch everyday together.

And so Barnaby wasn't even surprised when one day his partner came to him asking about his birthday.  
"Bunny! I heard it's your birthday soon and I heard you never celebrate, so this year, we're definitely going to!"  
"Who told you that? No, nevermind, I don't care. And no we won't celebrate"  
"We most definitely will. I don't let you have any say on the matter"  
"You're starting to talk like an adult, I'm almost proud of you"  
"Stop trying to change the subject, I'll be coming to your place and I'll take drinks along!"  
Barnaby sighed, he just knew that when the brat had an idea, there was nothing he could do against it "Fine, fine, do what you want. I can't promise I'll be there though"  
"You most definitely will! You're looking forward to it but don't want to admit it!"  
"Am not"

They were at their desk doing paperwork when their call bands went on, in a timed and organized ballet they stood up and ran to Saitou's lab to get ready, only to be told that they didn't have the time to get their armors and that they'll have to do without.  
It's only once they were arrived on the scene that they finally got an explanation, courtesy of their producer  
"Bonjour, Heroes"  
This sentence always made Barnaby cringe but he never said anything, Agnès was terrifying once angered, he has seen it on his partner and he definitely didn't want to bring her attention on him.  
"Today's problem is Lunatic, the goal is to arrest him so here's the plan. We're going to launch a surprise attack, one by one, Tiger and Barnaby you're starting!"  
"Yes!" they both answered together in unison

Something was definitely not normal. Lunatic wasn't moving, it wasn't something he usually did, he would have been caught already otherwise  
"Good evening heroes, I have been waiting for you"  
"What for?"  
"To get rid of you"  
And then everything happened much too fast, Barnaby barely had the time to register what happened that his partner was laying in front of him. He was going to be okay right? He definitely wasn't dead, right, right?  
Ignoring Agnès' scream of "Go Dragon Kid!", ignoring Lunatic, he ran to his partner's form on the floor, relieved to hear a faint "Bunny, I'm so glad you're fine" out of his lips, "You're a damned idiot brat"  
He was about to cry, he couldn't cry, not in front of him. He didn't wait for medics to make their way there, he didn't have the time to wait, he didn't want to waste a single second and so he carried his partner in his arms, taking him to the ambulance, going with him to the hospital, waiting until he was finally able to see him.

He was sleeping when he was finally allowed to see him and so he went home. Once there though he couldn't sleep, no matter what he tried he couldn't sleep.  
And so he sighed and put clothes back on again and went back to the hospital.  
Using his fame as a hero he made his way to Tiger's room, happy to see he was awake, happy to see the surprise in his eyes and the smile on his lips, happy that he was alive.  
"Bunny! Such a nice surprise! What are you doing there at this time of the night? Missed me too much?"  
"Well, I promised to spend my birthday with you and I don't know when you'll be discharged, so I came"  
"We can't really celebrate though"  
"We'll just celebrate your release from the hospital!"  
"Sounds like a plan!"  
"Good"

Without really thinking about it he took the hand of his partner in his, surprising himself at the gesture, getting even more surprised when the hand stayed there, he squeezed lightly, "Thank you"  
"Thank you? For what?"  
"You protected me, you didn't have to do that, I wouldn't have died with my powers activated"  
"I know. But you're my partner I don't want you to be hurt"  
"I don't want you to be hurt either"  
He ran a hand in his hair, grinning sheepishly "Well, I couldn't really help it, my body moved on its own"  
"Still, thank you, thanks a lot Kotetsu"

"Wait, did you call me by my name?"  
"Just shut up and sleep"


End file.
